Page 23 of The Eagle's Vault

My heart beat high in my chest, and I sucked in my lower lip. It was a silly training exercise that had no practical use, but some centering time might help clear my thoughts. I straightened my back, met her gaze head-on, and inhaled, careful not to disturb the feather.

Isaac sat twenty feet away, in front of a lock mounted in a vise. He was a ball of nerves and agitation. Rav stood watch over him, arms folded so they looked like tree trunks. The air pulsed with the incessant pinging of a blood pressure monitor attached to Isaac, his heart racing too fast for the sensor’s liking.

I slid one hand up to my wrist, outlining the medical bracelet.

Isaac’s struggle to handle the lock stressed me out as much as he was obviously stressing. In my head, I was feeling for the pins over the rake, willing them to snap into place for him. He didn’t have enough pressure on the tensioner, either. How was he so bad at this all of a sudden?

On the other side of the room, Scarlett, Malcolm, and Declan were engrossed in a pile of blueprints spread out on a massive table. I’d skimmed them when Isaac and I arrived. Their focus was on the Cassaforte floor plan and the design of an Eisenhart VII—the older, less advanced version of the vault they’d penetrate Thursday night.

From the corner of my eye, I caught Declan’s hand skimming over the blueprint, his knuckles brushing against the large sheets. A flutter jostled in my stomach. I’d said such stupid things after we left Cassaforte yesterday. Calling him a pretty face? I was so lame.

And then I’d said I could ask for more than pretty and talented.

Push it down, Leigh.There was a chasm between his world and mine. I couldn’t afford to blur the lines or think there was a way to bridge the distance.

Jayce’s uncomplicated demeanor was a breath of fresh air in the whirlwind that was my current life. It was easier, simpler, to be around her. “You’re turning red. Calm down and just breathe.”

At least, it was simpler when she didn’t call me out like that.

Leaning toward her, I lowered my voice, ensuring the others couldn’t overhear. “I’m a little stir crazy.”

“You and me both.”

“I’ve been in Rome for five days and haven’t seen anything.”

Jayce blinked at me, pausing with a piece of her granola bar halfway to her lips. “Nothing?”

“All I’ve seen is Edoardo’s, a few dinners near the hotel, and whatever Isaac and I have done with your team. Everything else has been from the window of a car.”

“Seriously?”

“Isaac promised we’d do some sightseeing once his meetings wrap up.”

She made an exaggerated show of rolling her eyes. “I couldn’t help but notice he’s a touch overprotective. We’re literally a forty-minute walk from the Roman Forum. Hell, we could go over there right now. Tell him we’re going to the hotel for something.”

My response stuck in my throat as a shadow of the past washed over me. Images of Finn skittered through my mind. He also would’ve insisted I stay far away from the world’s perceived harms. “No, you need to prepare for the penetration test.”

Jayce leaned forward. “I’m killing time right now. You need me more than they do.”

What was it about her? Jayce was loud and brash, cracking jokes and taunts at every turn. But there was something quieter about her. The more time I spent with the Reynolds team, the more it seemed they all had secrets lurking underneath the polished veneer. As if they’d all gone through tough times like I had.

I glanced at Isaac, my heart heavy with a sudden urge to share, to unload the burden I’d kept buried for so long. It was as though Jayce was inviting me to.

What did it matter if my mom passed away when I was ten? Or that I’d grown up as the only girl in the family, sheltered from the time bomb they all feared was ticking inside my head?

Jayce’s eyes softened as she studied me, her snack momentarily ignored. She touched my arm. “Never fear the leap. Fear standing still.”

The leap? I had so many directions to leap. Which one did she mean?

“Something one of my coaches said to me once.” She waved the thought aside, as though she was falling into her own memories. “He was always talking woo woo stuff like that.”

“Come on, everyone,” Declan called to the room. “We need all brains on deck.”

Rav shook his head, his attention stuck on Isaac. “We’re good here. Isaac needs more reps.”

Jayce and I exchanged a glance before joining the trio huddled over the blueprint-littered table.

As we approached them, Declan dove in, his finger dancing over the blueprints as he outlined the planned approach. “Cassaforte is one node in a sprawling set of interconnected buildings, shaped like the loops of a figure eight. We’ve got bullet cameras on the front and back doors. All of them are aimed squarely at the company’s entrances.”

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